In My Words | Aaron Cook
02/18/2019 | 8:21:00 | Men's Basketball
I never understood why, but my recruiting process took a long time. I ended with seven offers, and it came down to SIU and Central Michigan. I knew a little about SIU because my dad had been recruited by SIU. I'm from St. Louis, and SIU played in St. Louis a lot, so I had heard about all their success with the NCAA Tournaments and Sweet Sixteens.Â
One day, Coach Hinson and the entire staff came just to watch me work out at 6 a.m. At first, I thought that was weird. I told my friends, and they all said, 'What's wrong with that? I wish coaches would recruit me like that.' They were right, and that's what it came down to.Â
It helped that Brendon Gooch had already committed. When we were kids, Gooch played on the Southern Illinois Tigers, and I was on the Saint Louis Spartans. We could never beat his team, and that used to make me so mad. In eighth grade, our teams came together, and instantly, we had a bond. We were together that entire week at nationals. From that experience, when he got his offer to SIU, I knew I probably would, too, because we were such good friends.Â
Coming into SIU, I wanted to make an impact immediately. I ended up playing about 10 minutes a game, which wasn't what I expected; but at the same time, I know that I made an impact and showed the coaches that I could play at this level. I wanted to be a leader at this level, too.
When I was in high school, I wanted to lead by example. I could score any time I wanted to, and I thought scoring was the same as leading. When I got here, I realized that everybody could do that. I had to lead a different way. Mike Rodriguez taught me a lot, and the coaches always encouraged me to be a vocal leader. Going into my sophomore year, that was something I really wanted to add to my game.Â
I needed to add a jump shot to my game, too. My freshman year, I was scrapping for minutes with my defense. My mom told me I had to change something if I wanted to get more time. I sat down with Coach Hinson and asked what I needed to do better. He told me it was simple: make a jump shot.Â
I worked hard and improved a lot, and we played well last year as a team. It all came together for me against Indiana State, when we got a 82-77 win. There's always been a rivalry between Indiana State guard Jordan Barnes and me, ever since we started blowing up in St. Louis. I never bought into it, but you can't help but hear it all the time. Every time I play against someone from St. Louis, I make it my mission to win. I don't care if I score a bunch of points, grab rebounds, dish out assists. It doesn't matter. Anybody I play from St. Louis, I just want to win the game. So far, my record is pretty good.Â
After the last game of the 2017-18 season against Illinois State, we told ourselves we had to change something. We had the same team, and we knew we could be special, but we had to put in the work. That was the biggest thing all offseason. On my computer, my home screen is the picture from right after we lost that game. That's my reminder. We don't want to feel that again. We want to go past that and win the Missouri Valley Conference championship.
We all came in together, and we all know we can talk to each other about anything. When you play with someone for so many years, it's that much easier to be a leader. We listen to each other. Everybody is buying in and looking to each other for leadership. We worked really hard all year. We haven't gotten the results we expected yet, but nobody has lost faith. We really only have one goal—win the championship and go to the NCAA Tournament.Â
Like I said, this is a group I came in with. We have a special bond. This is a group I've grown with, I love and care about. That's all I want to do for them, to get them where they want to go.
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